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Dollar Stores Have Become Popular Retail Outlets
by Bob
Lowe
September 10, 2004
If
your idea of a dollar store is a dingy glorified rummage sale-like
outlet, just a step or two above your local Goodwill or thrift
shop, think again. Dollar stores like Family Dollar, Dollar
General, Dollar Tree, Dollar Wi$e and Dollar Planet have become
the fastest growing retail segment in America. The stores
have proliferated in the Fox Valley in recent months.
Dollar
General, one of the larger such chains, will add 625 stores
this year. Family Dollar, which has been around for 44 years,
has more than 5,400 stores in 44 states. Dollar Tree, founded
in 1986, operates 2,500 stores in 47 states. The number of
dollar stores nationwide grew from 11,683 in December 2000
to 15,703 in 2003, according to consumer data tracker AC-
Nielsen. Sales at dollar store account to $16 billion a year,
which is larger than what the recorded music industry takes
in.
If
you think that these stores only cater to the down-and-out
poor and immigrants, it might shock you to learn that families
earning $70,000 and above are the fastest-growing group of
customers. "That’s why you see $40,000 SUVs in
their lots," said Maureen Wallenfang, business reporter
for The Post-Crescent. Wallenfang said the newer stores she
visited for a recent Business Notebook column were "clean,
bright and well organized."
Dollar
stores have been carving such a significant slice of the retail
pie that even big box 24-hour super centers like Wal-Mart
feel threatened by them. Some of these giant retailers are
now offering similar dollar-or-less merchandise sections.
Dollar stores compete on price and convenience. Most of all,
they it offer easy access and parking in strip commercial
shopping centers or convenient stand-alone locations. These
no- frills stores spend almost nothing on marketing. Customers
have a way of finding them without much publicity.
While
some of these stores sell liquidated merchandise, many are
starting to attract brand name items to their shelves. Consumer
are finding that items like paper goods, toothpaste, batteries,
sandwich bags, paper plates, trash bags, snacks, health and
beauty aids, cleansers, greeting cards and even grocery items
are available at unbelievably low prices. And the quality
of these goods are comparable if not the same to what you
will find in grocery stores, mall shops and department stores.
People who used to stop into these dollar stores out of curiosity
now make it a regular part of their retail shopping experience.
In fact, many shrewd shoppers now begin their shopping trips
at the dollar store before proceeding to other higher priced
retailers.
According
to Retail Forward, an industry publication, these "small
format value retailing" stores will remain a high_growth
retailing segment over the next five years.
***
Several major acts are coming to venues in Green Bay later
this month. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton
Marsalis will grace the stage of the Weidner Center, 2420
Nicolet Drive, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12. For tickets call 1-800-328-8587.
The
latest version of "American Idols Live" comes to
the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon at 7 p.m. Sept. 18. The show
will feature Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo, John Stevens
and LaToya London, among others. Tickets are $47 and $37.
Info at www.pmiwi.com.
Metallica’s "Madly in Anger with the World"
tour checks into the Resch Center on Sept. 27. The concert
for these "kings of metal" is a sellout. Country
hunk Tim McGraw will be at the Resch for two days, Sept. 30
and Oct. 1. The performances will be taped for an NBC television
special that will be broadcast in November. Tickets are $67
and $57, plus fees, and are available through TicketStar at
1-800-895-0071.
Comedian
Ron White will appear on the stage of the Weidner Center in
Green Bay at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday Sept. 24. The first show
sold out quickly so a second one was added. White and his
cohorts from Blue Collar – Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy
and Larry the Cable Guy – have been one of the hottest
comedy acts to hit the stage in the past year. Tickets are
$36.75. Info at www.weidnercenter.com.
If
your musical preference is rap, check out rapper DMX, along
with Bizzy Bone, Do or Die and Troy Hudson from the Minnesota
Timberwolves at the Brown County Arena in Ashwaubenon on Sept.
24. Tickets are $36 and $41. Info at www.pmiwi.com.
***
The annual Quarry Quest, which gives kids a chance to get
inside big machinery and equipment, will be held at Michels
Materials limestone Quarry on Tullar Road in Neenah on Saturday
Sept. 11. The event gives visitors a one-of-a-kind opportunity
to tour a working quarry, ride and explore giant excavation
machinery, and participate in a host of fun, hands on educational
activities such as "prospecting" for fool's gold
or mixing up a batch of concrete "cake". Tickets
are $6 in advance and $8 at the gate. There is a $2 discount
for children ages 3-12. For more information, log onto www.quarryquest.com.
***
Tap Dogs Rebooted, a group of tap dancing performers from
Australia, the U.S. and Canada, will perform at the Fox Cities
Performing Arts Center in downtown Appleton Sept. 17-19. This
will be the North American premiere of the group, which has
all the adrenaline, energy and favorite numbers of its predecessor,
Tap Dogs, "with just a touch of sassiness and sensuality."
Ticket prices range from $20-$37 and can be purchased by calling
Ticketmaster at 731-5000 in the Fox Cities and 494-1414 in
the Green Bay area.
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